Like a phoenix, the stark con­struc­tion of the United States Insti­tute of Peace (USIP) on 23rd and Con­sti­tu­tion Avenues at the NW cor­ner of the national mall dra­mat­i­cally cuts the win­ter white with seem­ingly incon­gru­ous shapes for such a mas­sive build­ing in the capitol.

The renowned archi­tects Moshe Safdie and Asso­ciates have designed this head­quar­ters with three dis­tinct sec­tions linked together by atri­ums cov­ered by a series of wing-like roof ele­ments con­structed of steel frames and white translu­cent glass that will glow at night. Its design is meant to be sym­bolic of America’s com­mit­ment to peace; it’s loca­tion makes it vis­i­ble along the cap­i­tal sky­line. Short of stand­ing out in this frigid weather, con­struc­tion progress is eas­ily viewed with the live web­cam at www.oxblue.com.

Behind these fine feath­ers, the USIP is an inde­pen­dent, non­par­ti­san, pub­licly funded, national insti­tu­tion estab­lished by the U.S. Con­gress and signed into law by Ronald Rea­gan in 1984. In its cur­rent loca­tion, 1200 17th St NW, the Insti­tute employs nearly 200 peo­ple engaged in over 400 peace-building projects annu­ally. Its staff comes from the gov­ern­ment, mil­i­tary, NGOs, acad­e­mia and the pri­vate sec­tor. Three-quarters of the Institute’s experts have oper­a­tional expe­ri­ence; two-thirds have worked in the research sec­tor; and 40 per­cent have both oper­a­tional and research experience.

A dozen senior research fel­lows from around the world are also in res­i­dence at the Insti­tute annu­ally. Fel­low­ships are awarded to out­stand­ing schol­ars, pol­i­cy­mak­ers, prac­ti­tion­ers, and jour­nal­ists through a com­pet­i­tive fel­low­ship program.

The new 150,000 square-foot, five-story build­ing will enhance the train­ing and edu­ca­tion com­po­nent of USIP. The cam­pus houses offices for Insti­tute staff and fel­lows, a library and archive, a state-of the– art con­fer­ence cen­ter, class­rooms, and a pub­lic edu­ca­tion cen­ter designed to heighten under­stand­ing of the chal­lenges of inter­na­tional con­flict man­age­ment and peace-building among stu­dents and the gen­eral public.

The building’s three upper floors are con­sid­ered Work­ing Space and will house the Institute’s work­ing Cen­ters, as well as a research library and archives.

The Edu­ca­tion Cen­ter will be acces­si­ble to all vis­i­tors, with a par­tic­u­lar focus on stu­dents and teach­ers. Its goals are to:

1. Raise aware­ness about the nature and sources of inter­na­tional conflicts;
2. Edu­cate about non­vi­o­lent approaches to con­flict management;
3. High­light the work of the Insti­tute and other orga­ni­za­tions with sim­i­lar missions;
4. Attract young peo­ple to careers in inter­na­tional affairs and con­flict res­o­lu­tion; and
5. Encour­age pub­lic dis­cus­sion about inter­na­tional con­flict and global affairs.

The Cen­ter will use mul­ti­me­dia exhibits, sim­u­lated games, films, lec­tures, and other learn­ing tech­niques. There will be at least 20,000 square feet of exhibit space on two lev­els, as well as the pub­lic plaza and gar­den ded­i­cated to the center.

The Cen­ter will spon­sor out­reach pro­grams for teach­ers, stu­dents, and oth­ers through “vir­tual” pro­gram­ming even if they can­not visit the cen­ter in per­son. Teach­ing mod­ules and other edu­ca­tional resources will be devel­oped and online mate­ri­als will be made avail­able to the pub­lic. Dis­tance learn­ing and web­casts will also bring the Center’s learn­ing expe­ri­ence to diverse and dis­persed audiences.

With its ori­gins tied to George Wash­ing­ton who envi­sioned and begin­ning in 1783, pro­moted a “peace estab­lish­ment” as “essen­tial to the well being” and the very “exis­tence of the United States as an inde­pen­dent power”, the USIP head­quar­ters will hope­fully, be a bea­con for peace­ful world order in the 21st cen­tury. God knows, the 20th cen­tury left a lot to be desired.